1971 like most years in this spectacular decade was quite the discovery having previously seen a handful of films from the year and now being introduced to some truly explosive feature films from all countries, genres and individual film makers. The oscars this year focused in most of their attention on William Friedkin's The French Connection. Having seen the film before this revisit I was sort of thrown by the academy going to in full for it just because it's great and outside the camera the film is your typical cop thriller. I guess the filming of the car chase being the greatest of all time is an advantage in the film in making it standout. The best picture lineup this year was spread out in terms of covering all it's bases. The other nominees along with French Connection where A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show and Nicholas and Alexandra. These films are a mixed bag for me. Clockwork and Picture Show are all time greats for me. Fiddelr and Nicholas however are not as great for me. Overall the lineup and choices in 1971 where mixed for me just because there were so much more films that where greater for me.
As I said there some extremely exceptional 1971 films that today and much more discussed then they probably would've been back then. The best of the year is yet again a Robert Altman film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Seriously there was no stopping Altman during this decade as he just made great film after great film and so on. McCabe is the most romantic film Altman ever made and when you have the combined star power of Warren Beatty and especially Julie Christie you can't really go wrong because the two are just so good together that they make this sparkle even more then it ever could have. My runner up for the best of 1971 is a more controversial choice Ken Russell's The Devils. For me this is his masterpiece work of weirdness and horror that through his filmography he was so known for. The film has been almost destroyed by the removal of scenes due to uproar by the church but when you watch this as I did I as so blown over by it's wonderful weirdness. The greatness of this film begins and ends with Vanessa Redgrave who in the starring role is a sight to behold. Redgrave has never done better which is saying how great she is here because she has given great work since but nothing compares to the total comitment she gives the project and how she never apologizes for her performance. Next to make my personal lineup is Arthur Hiller's The Hospital. Directed by Hiller from another genius script from Paddy Chayefsky is a deeply disturbed feature completly controlled by Chayefsky. Due to his control you seen the writers influence completly which is never a bad thing when Chayefsky is in charge. Scott matches Chayefsky's words so strongly that the two along with Hiller's direction make for one definative 70's feature. Then there's Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude the most unconventinal love story of all time. One between a young man and someone nearly 60 years his senior. The romance make seem odd today but Ashby has a way with characters that makes this story of true love believable and charming to boot. Who would've believed a story this romantic would be so connected with themes of death. My fifth place film of the year is Milos Forman's Taking Off. The film about the youth experince through parents and children of those parents is a tricky wire act that under the direction of Forman is intoxicating. Really it is an impressive list of female led films (aside from The Hospital which has a complex female lead in Diana Riff) that make the top of my list.
38 is the amount of films I was able to see from this year. Really strong list of films from this year making it again another brilliant 70's year. Below is the list of winners and nominees I would've chosen.
OUTSTANDING PICTURE:
1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Produced by Mitchell Brower & David Foster)
2. The Devils (Produced by Ken Russell & Robert H. Solo)
3. The Hospital (Produced by Howard Gottfried)
4. Harold and Maude (Produced by Colin Higgins & Charles B. Mulvehill)
5. Taking Off
6. The Last Picture Show
7. Bananas
8. Walkabout
9. Klute
10. The French Connection
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:
Robert Altman for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Hal Ashby for Harold and Maude
Miloš Forman for Taking Off
Stanley Kubrick for A Clockwork Orange
Ken Russell for The Devils
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:
Warren Beatty as John McCabe in "MCCABE & MRS. MILLER"
Gene Hackmans as Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in "THE FRENCH CONNECTION"
Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE"
George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert "Herb" Bock in "THE HOSPITAL"
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in "WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY"
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:
Lynn Carlin as Lynn Tyne in "TAKING OFF"
Julie Christie as Constance Miller in "MCCABE & MRS. MILLER
Ruth Gordon as Maude in "HAROLD AND MAUDE"
Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne in "THE DEVILS"
Jessica Walter as Evelyn Draper in "PLAY MISTY FOR ME"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
John Hurt as Timothy John Evans in "10 RILLINGTON PLACE"
Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
Warren Oates as G.T.O. in "TWO-LANE BLACKTOP"
Roy Schneider as Det. Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo in "THE FRENCH CONNECTION"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Eileen Brennan as Genevieve in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
Rita Moreno as Louise in "CARNAL KNOWLEDGE"
Vivian Pickles as Mrs. Chasen in "HAROLD AND MAUDE"
Cybill Shepherd as Jacy Farrow in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Woody Allen for Bananas
Colin Higgins for Harold and Maude
Paddy Chayefsky for The Hospital
Penelope Gilliatt for Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Jean-Claude Carrièr, Miloš Forman, John Guare & Jon Klein for Taking Off
OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick; Based on A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Screenplay by Ken Russell; Based on The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley; The Devils by John Whiting, The Devils
Screenplay by Vittorio Bonicelli; Based on The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Peter Bogdanovich; Based on The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry for The Last Picture Show
Screenplay by Robert Altman & Brian McKay; Based on McCabe by Edmund Naughton, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:
Production Design by John Barry; Art Direction by Russell Hagg & Peter Sheilds for A Clockwork Orange
Production Design by Derek Jarman Art Direction by Robert Cartwright for The Devils
Production Design by Leon Ericksen; Art Direction by Al Locatelli & Philip Thomas for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Production Design by John Box; Art Direction by Ernest Archer, Jack Maxsted & Gil Parrondo for Nicholas and Alexandra
Screenplay by Roald Dahl; Based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:
Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show)
Jeff Bridges (The Last Picture Show)
Ellen Burstyn (The Last Picture Show)
Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange)
Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show)
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:
John Alcott for A Clockwork Orange
David Watkin for The Devils
Owen Roizman for The French Connection
Robert Surtees for The Last Picture Show
Vilmos Zsigmond for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:
Piero Tosi for Death in Venice
John Furniss for The Go-Between
Margaret Furse for Mary, Queen of Scots
Ilse Richter for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Yvonne Blake for Nicholas and Alexandra
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:
Bananas (Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalban, Natividad Abascal, Jacobo Morales, Miguel Ángel Suárez, David Ortiz, René Enríquez, Jack Axelrod, Howard Cosell, Roger Grimsby, Don Dunphy, Charlotte Rae, Stanley Ackerman, Dan Frazer, Dorothi Fox, Martha Greenhouse, Axel Anderson, Tigre Pérez, Baron De Beer, Arthur Hughes, John Braden, Ted Chapman, Dagne Crane, Eddie Barth, Nicholas Saunders, Conrad Bain, Allen Garfield)
The French Connection (Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale, Bill Hickman, Ann Rebbot, Harold Gary, Arlene Farber, Eddie Egan, André Ernotte, Sonny Grosso, Benny Marino, Patrick McDermott, Alan Weeks, Andre Trottier)
The Last Picture Show (Ben Johnson, Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Randy Quaid, Clu Gulager, Bill Thurman, Frank Marshall, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Taggart)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, René Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Antony Holland, Bert Remsen, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Hugh Millais, Jace Van Der Veen, Manfred Schulz, Corey Fischer, William Devane, John Schuck, Jackie Crossland, Elizabeth Murphy, Carey Lee McKenzie, Thomas Hill, Linda Sorenson, Elisabeth Knight, Janet Wright, Maysie Hoy, Linda Kupecek, Jeremy Newson, Wayne Robson, Jack Riley, Robert Fortier, Wayne Grace)
Taking Off (Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey, Audra Lindley, Paul Benedict, Vincent Schiavelli, David Gittler, Ike Turner, Tina Turner, Linnea Heacock, Rae Allen, Frank Berle, Phillip Bruns, Gail Busman, Carly Simon, Bobo Bates, Shellen Lubin)
OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:
Bill Butler for A Clockwork Orange
Michael Bradsell for The Devils
Gerald B. Greenberg for The French Connection
Donn Cambern for The Last Picture Show
Louis Lombardo for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Death in Venice (Directed by Luchino Visconti)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Directed by Vittorio de Sica)
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (Directed by Dušan Makavejev)
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:
Barbara Daly, George Partleton & Fred Williamson for A Clockwork Orange
Charles E. Parker for The Devils
Ed Butterworth, Robert Jiras & Phyllis Newman for McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Raimund Stangl for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL/ADAPTATION SCORE:
Walter Carlos for A Clockwork Orange
John Williams for Fiddler on the Roof
Michel Legrand for The Go-Between
Jerry Fielding for Straw Dogs
Ron Geesin for Sunday, Bloody Sunday
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:
Bedknobs and Broomsticks, "The Age of Not Beleving" (Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman)
Diamonds Are Forever, "Diamonds Are Forever" (Music by John Barry; Lyrics by Don Black)
Harold and Maude, "Trouble" (Music and Lyrics by Cat Stevens)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller, "The Stranger Song" (Music and Lyrics Leonardo Cohen)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, "Pure Imagination" (Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:
Julie Christie (The Go-Between, McCabe & Mrs. Miller)
Glenda Jackson (The Boy Friend, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Music Lovers, Sunday Bloody Sunday)
Walter Matthau (Kotch, A New Leave, Plaza Suite)
Vivian Pickles (Harold and Maude, Nicholas and Alexandra, Sunday Bloody Sunday)
Vanessa Redgrave (The Devils, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Trojan Women)
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:
Eddie Haben, John Jordan & Bill Rowe for A Clockwork Orange
Gordon K. McCallum for The Devils
David Hildyard & Gordon McCallum for Fiddler on the Roof
Theodore Soderberg & Christopher Newman for The French Connection
Chris Newman for Klute
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS:
Danny Lee, Eustace Lycett & Alan Maley for Bedknobs and Broomsticks
John Richardson for The Devils
Logan R. Frazee for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Next I'm going 19 years after 71 to 1990 when Kevin Costner turned director and directed Dances with Wolves. The film beat Scorsese for what many consider to be his best will I agree with the academy or is there another film I feel deserved the picture prize.
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